I'm happy to report that there is a new website started by a French woman in Toulouse (who lived years in the U.S.) where you can buy many of the American food products that you can't find in France at the local supermarkets (with maybe the exception of some specialty shops in Paris).  The new website is:

http://www.myamericanmarket.com/

While the products and shipping are a bit expensive, it's what you would expect given the cost of postage, import taxes, etc from the US into France.  To save on shipping costs, you can make a run down to Toulouse to pick up your items, with a 3 euros administrative fee.

I'm so glad that Anne-Claire came up with this idea and launched the service or I might have had to do it myself someday out of desperation. So if you're an American expat check out the site and satisfy your cravings!

Here's detailed information on the Market, including their launch promotion, taken from the website:

Then, My American Market has been designed for you: it is a hassle-free online store for your American food and beverage staples.

It is time you do something about your cravings!

Visit us today: www.MyAmericanMarket.com

and enter coupon code “BLOG21” to get a 10% discount on your order (shipping costs not included).

My French husband drives the TGV trains in France. If you’re American, you might know them as the ‘bullet trains.’ It’s not bad work but it does take him away from home at least part-time 4 or 5 days a week including some overnights (no doubt that’s the reason for the high divorce rate among train drivers). The biggest benefit is that you get to retire after 30 years, which for him means at 50 years old! I’m SO jealous. I’ll be an old lady before I retire. One interesting TGV fact is that the operating speed on average is between 190 to 225 miles per hour.

Just in case you’ve never seen the ‘prettier side’ of TGVs, here are some photos he took. My Frenchman is a great photographer and many of the photos on this blog are his.

And be sure to watch this video of the fastest TGV run on record at an amazing 357 miles per hour

The next month of videos will be about our trip to Dordogne, Bordeaux and the Atlantic Coast in July. I’m including one of Bernard’s photos in addition to the videos. Tune in to see some gorgeous areas of France.

World’s Fastest Rail Train TGV 574,8 KPH Inside Footage

TGV Photos:

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Music by: Mario Grigorov     Paris to Cuba   Song: Snake Eyes

Thanks for letting me use your music, Mario.

To purchase the music: www.paristocuba.com/music.html

 I wanted to share a personal moment of celebration. In July, on almost the same day, I received my second Carte de Sejour which allows me to work in France, and my French drivers license. For Americans this probably doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment but for those expats out there who have been through this process in France you know just how big an accomplishment it is. Layers of bureacracy, documents galore, translations of all those documents, lines at the Prefecture, and months of waiting. I was fortunate to have a Florida driver’s license (I have property in Florida) and was able to exchange it for a French drivers license. Florida, along with 10 other U.S. states, has reciprocal agreements with France. If I had had to do it the hard way, it would have meant $1,000 in lessons, 6 months of lessons, and two tests (in French!). I would have had to wait years until my French was good enough to take the tests and the idea of not driving for years was and is unbearable, so I’m very fortunate to have had the exchange of license option.

So there you have it. The biggest document challenges are finally over with the exception of signing up for the auto-entrepreneur classification so I can start moving on my business ideas, but I’ll wait a few months for that and just bask in the glow of what has been achieved for the moment.

Do you have stories of recent expat or soon to be expat successes or challenges? Please share them in the comments section.

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This is a classic Savoie recipe since crozets are only made in the region. Typically this recipe is only made with crozets, Beaufort cheese and butter but I jazzed it up with creme fraiche and ham slices to make it more of a main course. You can make it either way. If you don’t live in France, you’ll probably have to go to a French specialty store to find the crozets and Beaufort cheese (or substitute the Beaufort with another hard, white, nutty cheese).  Here’s the recipe (the conversions are not exact but will work for the recipe):

1 1/2 cups of crozets (or 300 gr)

6 ounces of Beaufort cheese, grated  (or 150 gr)

3 ounces of butter (or 70 gr)

water to boil the crozets

1/2 cup of creme fraiche – or sour cream  (or 100 grams)

a couple of luncheon size slices of ham, cut into bite size peices

salt and pepper

Salt the water and boil your Crozets for about 20 minutes until they are soft. Drain. Add the butter, grated cheese, salt, pepper, creme fraiche, and ham and stir together. Heat alittle so everything melts and is warm before serving.

For more information about the region’s food, here’s an article I found about the cuisine of Savoie from Saveur Magazine: http://www.saveur.com/article/Saveur-Travels/Cooking-of-the-French-Alps

Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home

Not far from Chambery is a spa town called Aix les Bains.  Aix sits on a lovely lake called Lac du Bourget, where the town folk love to play their games, have their picnics, ride in their boats, and hold their carnivals.  Here is a video about my day at the lake which includes a 2-hour boat ride that only cost me about 14 euros. That was a steal!

Kick back with a glass of wine and enjoy this relaxing video.

We heard on the radio the other day that 50% of all French households have vegetable gardens. Even many of the apartments come with little plots of land belonging to each resident for the purpose of gardening.  If not, most cities have areas of land that you can rent for less than 100 euros a year to plant your garden. The French Garden is a way of life in France, a carry over from their long history of farming. This video shows our garden, which is fairly typical of most in France.

Prior to planting our garden, we had to get rid of all of these. They are everywhere in our yard. What a nuisance. Now I know why the French eat them!

Edible French Garden (Edible Garden Series, 3)